Humanity in Action, an educational organization dedicated to fostering human rights and ethical leadership around the world, has awarded its 2014 fellowship to Hunter senior Alexander Simon-Fox.

Simon-Fox is majoring in political science, with minor in human rights, in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter. He plans to attend law school and work for the protection of civil liberties and minority rights. His high academic standing and record of principled civic engagement were the basis for his fellowship award.

“We have never had a more diverse and talented applicant pool,” Judith Goldstein, Human in Action’s executive director, said in her announcement of the 40 American fellows chosen from a record 605 candidates.

In late May, Simon-Fox will join his American peers in an intensive orientation in Washington at the Council on Foreign Relations and the United States Holocaust Museum. They will focus on American civil rights, Holocaust education, European political issues, and career options in foreign affairs. A month later, they will join all of the international fellows at a conference in Europe on the status and treatment of minorities in border regions around the world.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity to travel to Europe, meet students with similar interests, and immerse myself in the study of human rights,” Simon-Fox said after learning about his fellowship award.